HEATHSVILLE—The Northumberland planning commission on Thursday, August 15, discussed plans to improve access to broadband services across the county.

Members considered the possibility of partnering with the Northern Neck Electric Cooperative (NNEC) to provide high speed internet connections to underserved regions of the county.

This potential partnership with NNEC was made possible by legislation adopted by the General Assembly this year, House Bill 2691, allowing private utility companies to expand broadband capacity to unserved areas of the Commonwealth by building access points outside the utility’s current energized zone which connect the utility’s broadband capacity system to internet service providers. The utility company can lease the rights to use the expanded broadband capacity to private internet service providers, who would then sell…

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